THE GOOSE. 



The common goose, from which our breed is descend- 

 ed, must have been domesticated for many centuries. 

 It was formerly bred in the then extensive and impene- 

 trable swamps and fens spreading over the eastern 

 coasts. The toil and skill of man have wrought a great 

 change on their surface, the morass becoming a fruitful 

 field, a garden rich in flowers and in fruit ; but this part 

 of the feathered tribes, once wandering at large, is now 

 apparent in a highly improved and domestic state. 



How much are we indebted to this bird, so proverbial 

 for its stupidity ! It gives us our quills, with some 

 of which this, and multitudes of other books, were writ- 

 ten. They are supposed to have been in use amongst 

 us between four and five hundred years ; and many of 

 those employed in England came from Ireland, Ham- 

 burgh, and Hudson's Bay. An immense quantity of 

 quills is also imported from Russia and Poland, where 

 vast flocks of geese are fed for the sake of their quills 

 alone : the qu'antity exported from St. Petersburg varies 



